'Custom' cars & 'hot rods'

Ford South Africa built the Ford Paranha (?) which was a Capri with a V8 (presumably the 289 rather than the 427) then there was the Willment Savage - a Cortina with a Zephyr V6 (I think).

I have also read an article about a Porsche 912 fitted with a 239 ci Chev V8 fitted. Yes 239ci - it was a 327 de-stroked to 2.375in stroke.

There is a few Chev powered Porsches around in Oz and the US, why would anyone would go to 239ci though. Unless for racing. Though I would suggest that a Chev in a Porsch would make the handling even more evil. Bloke I knew had a 179Holden in a Kombi Bus

In 1967/8 a friend in England (where I then lived) bought a Lotus Cortina fitted with a Daimler SP250 engine. one night we all piled in and went to the stock car races at Aldershot. During the intermission members of the public were allowed to try to set times in their street cars-one at a time. My friend took the Lotus Cortina out and without changing out of 2nd gear set the fastest time for a long time to come. We then drove back to Guildford along the Hogs Back road at an indicated 135 mph. It changed my life! I decided that the thing to do was fit a 289 Ford in a Lotus Cortina so I went off to sea to make the money to do so--never really lived in England again.

In 1967/8 a friend in England (where I then lived) bought a Lotus Cortina fitted with a Daimler SP250 engine. one night we all piled in and went to the stock car races at Aldershot. During the intermission members of the public were allowed to try to set times in their street cars-one at a time. My friend took the Lotus Cortina out and without changing out of 2nd gear set the fastest time for a long time to come. We then drove back to Guildford along the Hogs Back road at an indicated 135 mph. It changed my life! I decided that the thing to do was fit a 289 Ford in a Lotus Cortina so I went off to sea to make the money to do so--never really lived in England again.

A life changing Custom Car experience thanks for sharing David, I used to find myself on the Hogs Back and Aldershot in the early 90's nearly twenty years since I have been that way

If you race it, how much hp does it have and how do lap times compare to a sprint car from twenty years ago?

Here in the U.S. the sb Chebbies into Vegas; sb Fords into Pintos; Factory V-8 Gremlins were the rage in seventies. I went to theCar Craft sponsored car show at the Minn. State Fair grounds this summer and my curiosity as to if any of the above still were around was answered as they were all there and a good deal more rodded than thirty five years ago.

It was great show, not as big as the one in June that cuts cars off at 1964, where you can spend on day at the flea market and another looking at cars, but a very good time as one saw everything from unrestored Model T and A Fords plus other early makes to a Cobra Daytona Coupe replicas and the latest after-market versions of Camaros, Challengers and Mustangs.

One rat rod had eight megaphone exhaust pipes on a small block Chevy, gotta love it.

Of course in the rallying world there a variety of devices in Australia in the 1970s and 1980s. Datsun 1600s with a variety of options -2.4L 4 cyl & Mazda rotary for example, TR7 V8, Toyota Corollas with Yamaha head 2L twin cam , Mazda 626 coupe with turbo 13B rotary, 2.0L & 2.6L engined Lancers etc. Not absolutely wild but with RWD only they were pretty spectacular cars on loose surfaces. Above all, for a 'budget' car they were often competitive with the works Escorts & Datsuns.

When I was assisting the Tijuana Auto Sport Club in organizing and promoting the road races near the Bullring By The Sea, one of the big disappointments was to a fellow who had trailered his creation in from Arizona. The car was a VW bug with a 426 Chrysler Hemi in the back seat. Organizers said it was likely to be a danger to spectators, but did allow it to do several demonstration runs down the main straight. The fellow said he road raced it regularly in an Arizona association, but ...

Everyone was in danger at those races. Crowd control was present, but without training the soldiers had no idea what rules to enforce. Thoughtless and/or drunk spectators were dong Veronicas with cars in the braking zone at the end of a half-mile long straight.

Of course in the rallying world there a variety of devices in Australia in the 1970s and 1980s. Datsun 1600s with a variety of options -2.4L 4 cyl & Mazda rotary for example, TR7 V8, Toyota Corollas with Yamaha head 2L twin cam , Mazda 626 coupe with turbo 13B rotary, 2.0L & 2.6L engined Lancers etc. Not absolutely wild but with RWD only they were pretty spectacular cars on loose surfaces. Above all, for a 'budget' car they were often competitive with the works Escorts & Datsuns.

And when things started to get out of hand Barry Lowes Dazdas. Datto 1600 with 13B rotary and RS2000 Escort Sports Sedan fibreglass front panels. His next car was a GTHO XY Falcon!!

I'd say the last car pictured in your first post is an Austin A16. I owned one as a callow youth, complete with wind-out windscreen, and tears in the front guards. They were big bits of metal with poor edging, and the solid front axle with lever shocks did little to soften the ride.

The best job of "shoehorning" I have seen is a Bugeyed Sprite with a 478 ci Chrysler Hemi. With the exception of the alloy wheels the thing looks amazingly stock from the outside. If you Google "hemi sprite" I'm sure you'll find some pics.

^^^^^^^That, is a "Street Rod". Almost always made from modern reproduction parts and late model drivetrain. The owners involvement often involves writing substantial checks to the builder.

This is a "Hot Rod". The real deal. Genuine 1932 Ford 3-window coupe with a flathead (sidevalve to you UK blokes) Ford V8 with rare Ardun (as in Zora ARkus-DUNtov) overhead valve conversion. Cars like this were usually built by enthusiasts in backyard garages all across America in the late '30s thru the late '50s and right up to the "Muscle car" era of the mid-'60s.

Originally posted by Ray Bell.....If I was building a hot-rod, I might well be tempted to use a hemi-headed 2.5-litre V8 that was in production in the late sixties. It would be very different to everything around, and I think that's one of the things that hot-rods should be aiming for - a unique appearance.

Bet you can't guess which engine I mean...

Almost eleven months and nobody's guessed...

I'll give you a few days more, perhaps.

Originally posted by Lee NicolleMk1 Cortina 220 is Mk 1 2 door standard model which in Oz had both 1200 and 1500 non crossflow pushrod engine. We also got GTs which were all 4 doors and import Lotuses which were 2 doors with leaf spring rear suspension. With a fairly long but narrow engine bay. Plus GT500s which were a Bathurst Special with big tank and slightly tidied up 1500 pushrod.

The '220' and '240' and '440' designations came to the Cortinas with the change from the original grilles, the ones that came out with the parker/blinker setup wrapped around the front corners. Originally we referred to these as 'Mk 2 Cortinas', but that was eclipsed later.

And there was a 2-door GT as well. The one Pete and Leo Geoghegan raced was a 2-door, as has been discussed lately on one of the other threads.

There were also some original A-frame coil spring rear-suspended Lotus Cortinas here, maybe not as many as leaf-sprung, but that's probably true everywhere.

Crossflow engines came in almost a year after the introduction of the Mk 2, the second body style, they were, of course, 1300 and 1600cc engines.

QUOTE
Originally posted by Ray Bell
.....If I was building a hot-rod, I might well be tempted to use a hemi-headed 2.5-litre V8 that was in production in the late sixties. It would be very different to everything around, and I think that's one of the things that hot-rods should be aiming for - a unique appearance.

[...][/quote]
Many moons ago - late 1960s, early 1970s - such an engine appeared uniquely in a BRG Austin-Healey 100, raced by a San Diego Region, SCCA, stalwart named "Turk" Williams. It looked, sounded and ran fine, but the antiquated chassis limited its success.

^^^^^^^That, is a "Street Rod". Almost always made from modern reproduction parts and late model drivetrain. The owners involvement often involves writing substantial checks to the builder.

This is a "Hot Rod". The real deal. Genuine 1932 Ford 3-window coupe with a flathead (sidevalve to you UK blokes) Ford V8 with rare Ardun (as in Zora ARkus-DUNtov) overhead valve conversion. Cars like this were usually built by enthusiasts in backyard garages all across America in the late '30s thru the late '50s and right up to the "Muscle car" era of the mid-'60s.

"Customs" are a whole 'nother world.

Cheers,Kurt O.

We're still building them old-school. Here's my current personal project, an all-steel '32 Ford roadster with Flathead Ford V8 and driveline, original uncut Deuce frame, juice brakes, etc. Traditional down to the last fastener.

1. It's an engine which essentially has a long hot-rod history, though I know of none in a hot-rod in this form.

2. It was mass-produced by a manufacturer who never designed or wanted it.

3. In the form I mentioned, it was using major parts it was never intended to have.

Do you mean a Simca Vedette in it's final OHV form? Based on the 2.3l side-valve Ford V8 and then in its final iteration had an ohv conversion.

A1. Check - plenty of Ford V8 flatties in rodsA2. Check - Produced by Simca who inherited the design and tooling when they bought Ford's plant in France, and it was really too large for the French tastes and tax.A3. Check - The ohv cylinder heads were produced in (I think ) Brazil as a last ditch effort to keep the engine alive.How'd I go?

1. It's an engine which essentially has a long hot-rod history, though I know of none in a hot-rod in this form.

2. It was mass-produced by a manufacturer who never designed or wanted it.

3. In the form I mentioned, it was using major parts it was never intended to have.

There is Buick, Oldsmobile alloy engine still used to this day in Strange rovers, which also has a V6 cousin used in Commodores until about 2005.Plus as David mentioned the venerable V8 60 used by it seems half the South American world.The full size sidevalve was still produced in France for military vehicles in the 60s

It has the Ardun heads (but made by Chrysler Sth America), the old side-valve ports are removed from the block and it's stretched to 2500cc.

I'm not sure how much Ardun there is in the Simca Emi-Sul V8, if any. There were only a few dozen Ardun V8-60 head kits produced and they were very in the rough -- it took considerable work to make a running engine out of them. The Simca was a developed volume production engine, more or less, which the Ardun V8-60 never was. I think the Ardun might serve as a benchmark of negative capability -- look how they did it on the Ardun and then do something else.

I'm not sure how much Ardun there is in the Simca Emi-Sul V8, if any. There were only a few dozen Ardun V8-60 head kits produced and they were very in the rough -- it took considerable work to make a running engine out of them. The Simca was a developed volume production engine, more or less, which the Ardun V8-60 never was. I think the Ardun might serve as a benchmark of negative capability -- look how they did it on the Ardun and then do something else.

Forty-six years ago at the Perkins Diesels car show in Peterborough, when the British barely knew what a hot rod was, I snapped this black and white photo of a simple and elegant hot rod that was bright yellow: http://www.oldstox.c...s/wrightrod.jpg

The adventurous builder cut off both ends of a Jaguar Mk 7 chassis, installed Ford transverse leaf springs at each end, mounted an Austin A40 pickup cab, and a Rolls-Royce radiator. He also ran a Fiat Topolino hot rod with no doors or bonnet, whose Cadillac V-8 exhausts were 6 motorcycle silencers bolted to the ports, and I saw it driven on the streets.

Hot rods don't have to have poor handling, sure if you want to re-create a 50s hot rod, it'll have 50s handling...

Nowadays suspension is often based on current model corvettes or a variation on it. Take a look at Art Morrison stuff for example.

Its a common misconception that "street rods" are solely built by paying the bills.. there are plenty of DIYers building their own, its typically a aloof attitude by "real" hotrodders that think everything should have a flathead and built matt black. IMHO its these guys that are not really on the ball, I'll explain..

Back in the day hotrodders were using the newest bits they could get their hands on to make the cars go faster - small block chevrolet engines were being put in other cars the year they were released, ditto with nailheads and hemis. Even flatheads were being fitted with OHV conversions and the like.
Yet today some that proclaim themselves "proper" hot rodders want original flathead engines, using unboxed chassis, closed drivelines etc, all this stuff is 50+ years old. To me thats not the ethos that the 50s and 60s guys had - I think if you bought many of those guys forwards they'd be using modern fuel injected engines, independent suspension and so on.
If you want to re-create a 60s hot rod, good on you, I can dig that - just don't pretend its anything else!

Hot rods don't have to have poor handling, sure if you want to re-create a 50s hot rod, it'll have 50s handling...

Nowadays suspension is often based on current model corvettes or a variation on it. Take a look at Art Morrison stuff for example.

Its a common misconception that "street rods" are solely built by paying the bills.. there are plenty of DIYers building their own, its typically a aloof attitude by "real" hotrodders that think everything should have a flathead and built matt black. IMHO its these guys that are not really on the ball, I'll explain..

Back in the day hotrodders were using the newest bits they could get their hands on to make the cars go faster - small block chevrolet engines were being put in other cars the year they were released, ditto with nailheads and hemis. Even flatheads were being fitted with OHV conversions and the like.Yet today some that proclaim themselves "proper" hot rodders want original flathead engines, using unboxed chassis, closed drivelines etc, all this stuff is 50+ years old. To me thats not the ethos that the 50s and 60s guys had - I think if you bought many of those guys forwards they'd be using modern fuel injected engines, independent suspension and so on.If you want to re-create a 60s hot rod, good on you, I can dig that - just don't pretend its anything else!

my 2ps worth

A hot rod is really nothing more than an expression of personal style. Another word for it: fashion.

Back in the day hotrodders were using the newest bits they could get their hands on to make the cars go faster - small block chevrolet engines were being put in other cars the year they were released, ditto with nailheads and hemis. Even flatheads were being fitted with OHV conversions and the like.Yet today some that proclaim themselves "proper" hot rodders want original flathead engines, using unboxed chassis, closed drivelines etc, all this stuff is 50+ years old. To me thats not the ethos that the 50s and 60s guys had - I think if you bought many of those guys forwards they'd be using modern fuel injected engines, independent suspension and so on.If you want to re-create a 60s hot rod, good on you, I can dig that - just don't pretend its anything else!

A hot rod is really nothing more than an expression of personal style. Another word for it: fashion.

I don't think a hot rod is just an expression of personal style. A hot rod is a type of modified car like a leadsled or a lowrider. And all three styles depend on some certain period cars. Don't forget that you're talking about something very traditional here.When hotrodding started there were 'kids' taking old cheap cars and stuffed late engines and so on in it.Well, Time moved on and (american) technology did not really keep up with it. So people will still keep putting old engines in even older cars because it is still cheap.Every period has its own tuning style. It went from hotrodding over leadsleds, lowrider and go-faster-stripes to fast & furious bullsh*t style ebay bodykits plus chip tuning. Unfortunatly is that all you can do with todays cars.Rods have fuelinjected engines and independent suspensions today. I saw a car with a Chevy LS2 in it. So technically they are moving on.If you would bring some of the original rodders into today they would propably quit. What should they do?Stuffing a Hondy Type R engine into an old busted 3series beemer and take the bonnet off?

Over the weekend an acquaintance Johnny Martinez won a class award at the 64th Grand National Roadster Show held in Panoma CA for his 1929 Ford Model A Pickup seen above.

Over the last couple of weeks I have also been watching a fascinating battle for Cool Ride of the Month at Gold Eagle.com between Johnny's Pickup and another, there has been less than two % between the vehicles in the voting for the last three weeks and there are now just two days of voting to go. Johnny would really appreciate your vote today and tomorrow, just click on this link and vote John's 1929 Ford Model A, there is no registration and no e-mail address requests or spam.